‘I asked first,’ she said.
‘Never been one for a late night. Much prefer to be in bed early and up early rather than the other way around.’
Lorelai was surprised. She’d just assumed Riggs would be a late riser, not an early one. And he’d reached for something to read when he’d woken up? Maybe she should give him more credit.
‘Five o’clock is a little extreme though, isn’t it?’
‘I’ve had at least six hours of sleep. That’s enough for me. So come on. Why are you up?’
Lorelai shrugged. She finally settled on, ‘I just never tend to sleep well.’
‘Insomnia?’
‘Something like that.’
They sat there for a while, wordlessly sipping coffee. When the silence became unbearable, Lorelai said, ‘So…’
‘So…’ Riggs repeated.
Lorelai didn’t really know Riggs. They had worked together for three years but they had never had a conversation about anything other than the cinema. She knew he was twenty-eight and that he’d grown up in London but she had no idea what qualifications he had, if any. His likes or dislikes. She’d never met any of his friends or romantic interests. She didn’t know if he even wanted to take over his father’s business or if he had other aspirations of his own.
‘What do you want to do when you’re older?’ Lorelai blurted out.
‘When I’m older?’ He laughed. ‘How young do you think I am?’
‘Sorry.’ She massaged her forehead, trying to kickstart the rational part of her brain. ‘What I meant was… the cinema. Is that what you want to do with your life? When Wesley decides he’s ready to hand over the keys? Or is thathisdream?’
‘Who wants to work at a cinema their whole life?’ Riggs scoffed but then said quickly, ‘Sorry, I mean… is that what you want to do with your life?’
‘No, clearly not’ – she gestured to her notebook – ‘but I don’t hate it as much as you seem to.’
‘I don’t hate working at the cinema,’ Riggs said in a small, hurt voice.
‘Really?’ Lorelai couldn’t hide her expression. She felt her face twist into one that said,I don’t believe you.
‘OK, OK, I don’t love it,’ he said, holding up his hands, ‘but that’s not the same as hating it.’
‘Youactlike you hate it.’
‘It’s not my dream job, no. I didn’t realise it was that obvious,’ he said, wincing.
‘So whatisyour dream job?’
Riggs looked as though he was about to say something and then stopped himself.
‘Go on,’ Lorelai encouraged.
‘Well, the thing is, I don’t really know,’ Riggs admitted.
‘What do you meanyou don’t know?’ Lorelai fought hard not to roll her eyes.
‘I don’t know! Dad always wanted me to take over at the cinema so I left school when I was sixteen, after my GCSEs and I’ve been working there ever since.’
Lorelai wasn’t used to hearing Riggs call Wesley ‘Dad’ and it always took her by surprise when he did, mostly because they looked so different that it was easy to forget they were father and son. Wesley was short, his skin weathered, wrinkled and pale from being cooped up in the cinema for days on end. Riggs was at least six foot with a ruddy complexion. Riggs had a youthful bounce to the way he walked and talked that made him seem far younger than he was. Lorelai wondered if this was why sheviewed him as so incompetent. Neither she, Joanie nor Wesley trusted him with any of the bigger responsibilities, but was he actually more professional than they gave him credit for? Then she remembered when he had been entrusted with locking up at the end of the day and he had completely forgotten to set the burglar alarm. They had been robbed and the burglars had vandalised the place too. Did those errors in judgement come from not feeling pride in his work?
‘Have you ever thought of quitting? Trying something else?’
Riggs narrowed his eyes at her. ‘Don’t be silly. My dad would never forgive me!’
